𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝑰 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 [𝕘𝕚𝕪𝕦𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕠] (KNY)

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟦𝟦: 𝒯𝓇𝓊𝓉𝒽 𝒷𝑒 𝒯𝑜𝓁𝒹

Five months later 

Author POV:

As the season shifted, so did Shinobu and Giyu's relationship.

They had mutually decided to stay friends. Despite what had happened, they decided the only way to move forwards was to maintain a friendly relationship. Shinobu and Giyu both helped each other recover physically and mentally, and as weeks passed by at the Butterfly Mansion, much was said. 

I guess you could say they fell back in love, if that was possible for a pair as broken as them. But they found their connection, and as weak as they both were at the moment, they needed that extra support, the extra care that a loving relationship gives you. 

However, life is not as simple as getting what you need and keeping it. Things happen. Problems arise. Feelings are hurt, and if you thought it wasn't possible for Giyu and Shinobu to be any more broken, well, you were wrong. 

The tension between them stretched like a tight rubber band; eventually, it snapped. The pair had an argument one evening about anything and everything; all that fury and anger trapped inside themselves was let out. Words flew like knives through the chilly air. 

"YOU overreacted about nothing and then got yourself r#ped! How can you live with that? How do I live with that?" Giyu shouted furiously, his ocean-blue eyes bright. 

"How do you manage to always make everything about yourself? That's something I have to deal with, not you! I- I know I've messed up everything, like leaving you with Douma, and not letting myself love you, and I wasn't there for you when Makomo died, but I've regretted everything, and I'll always be sorry for my mistakes. I will do anything to make up for them. But please; don't make it any harder for me to live with it," Shinobu sobbed, tears running down her flushed cheeks. "I'll spend the rest of life trying to make up for what I've done, but only if you'll let me." 

"How? How can you possibly make up for it? I've suffered horribly because of you, and so far all I've seen is you using me to feel better about yourself." Giyu snapped. "I appreciate you nursing me back to health, but frankly, I wouldn't have gone through all that if not for you abandoning me in the first place!" 

"I'm SORRY, okay?! I don't know what I was thinking! I was mad and- and- I know it's no excuse, but come on, what can I do about it now? Don't we have to think about our futures?" Shinobu cried. "I know we're good for each other when we want to be, and I don't want to lose what we have." 

"No, Shinobu. We don't have anything. You just wish we did." Giyu spun on his heel and stalked back inside with that final word, leaving Shinobu standing alone in the garden, tears spilling down her face. 

She stood like that for several hours before she went back inside. 

2 weeks later

Now she's alone again, but locked in her office, with a stack of letters piled on her desk. 

She wrote her final word to Kanae, sealed the letter with a sticker, and placed it onto the stack. Then, taking one last look at her picture of her sister, she reached for her poison compartment. 

A small bottle of cyanide, enough to kill a grown man. 

Shinobu uncorked the bottle and tipped her head back, gulping it down in one sip.